Welcome back. Was anybody else singing Lemon Pound Cake to the tune of Under the Boardwalk in their heads while watching games yesterday? Just me? Ok. Well, that song is genius.
Day 2 of the first round started off with an all-time classic. Just an awesome basketball game between the 10 seed Santa Clara and the 7 seed Kentucky. Close all game, back-and-forth at the end (something like 50+ lead changes!!!), and after now-Kentucky legend Otega Oweh scored a tough lay-in with about 9.9 seconds left in the game to tie it, Santa Clara sharpshooter Allen Graves etched his name in NCAA lore by nailing a game-winning three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left. Or did he? The aforementioned Oweh, received the inbound pass, drove the left sideline until just after half court and put up a heave that banked in for his 8th consecutive Kentucky point in a row, and sent the game to overtime. [Ed. Note - It is about time Kentucky ended up on the positive side of a last-second shot. See Laettner, Christian and Maye, Luke]. From there, Kentucky took over pounding the ball inside to Mouhamed Dioubate, and Brandon Garrison providing the defense on switches as the big man blocked not one, but two three-point shots on the perimeter to seal the win for the Wildcats. Garrison had 6 blocks in the game!
A note on Dioubate, he is Muslim, which means this weekend is Eid al-Fitr, meaning an end to Ramadan and an end to his requirement to refrain from all food and drink during the daylight. If this means Kentucky's most athletic player will be able to hydrate and properly and timely replenish his food, nutrients and fluids, this could mean problems for the Midwest bracket!!!
The rest of the games were seriously boring. REALLY Boring. Not one upset (by our definition) occurred, with the only interesting point being that all 4 nine seeds won for the first time since 2019 and only the sixth time ever. And, since the game was so boring, I won't really mention the games at all (except for my stats and players of the day). But there were some really cool things that happened in college sports yesterday, so I will discuss those until the games get interesting again.
First, Alabama pitcher Tyler Fay threw a no-hitter last night as the Crimson Tide baseball team won 6-0. Now, Fay didn't no-hit just any team like Southwestern Central, he did it against NCAA and SEC powerhouse Florida, currently 18-3 and ranked 18th in the country couldn't touch Fay as he struck out 13 and only walked 2 in a 132-pitch gem.
The NCAA Women's tournament started yesterday, and TCU's Olivia Miles - a transfer from Notre Dame - earned a 12-16-14 triple double to become the only person, man or woman, with an NCAA tournament triple double for multiple teams. Yes, we watch women's basketball here. And while on the subject, let's give a shout out to participant Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, MA, who just completed her first-year on Babson College's women's team, and finished with 5.9 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game in an average of 14 minutes. No doubt her role will be expanding in her next three years - and we hope to see her in the Division III version of the tournament soon!
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
There were some very interesting stats from yesterday's games. My favorite are:
Stats of the Day
6. Florida reserve center Olivier Rioux - all 7'9" of him - played 2 minutes and scored 2 points. This is like if any other team had a giraffe play and actually score a basket!!!
5. 4-0. The records of the 9 seeds against the 8s. For only the 6th time ever.
4. Brandon Garrison of Kentucky had 6 blocks, and UCLA's Donovan Dent had 6 steals against UCF. That's some serious defense.
3. Skyy Clark lost 1 tooth while diving for a loose ball and taking an elbow to the face.
2. Florida's 114-55 decimation of Prairie View A&M is the largest blowout by a 1-seed in NCAA tournament history, and the second largest blowout ever.
1. 1,077 - The number of assists by Purdue's Braden Smith in his NCAA career, surpassing Duke legend and recently fired coach of Arizona State Bobby Hurley. Congrats Braden.
Upon reading the "Stats of the Day" list, you may have asked yourself, "Self, I wonder what the largest blowout in NCAA tournament history was," and "I wonder if Pepster will tell us." Well, I know the answer to both of those queries, and soon you will too.
Way back on March 11, 1963, in McGraw Memorial Hall in Evanston, Illinois, the mighty Loyola Ramblers crushed Tennessee Tech 111-42, a 69-point spread. In the immortal words of the legendary sports anchor Warner Wolf, "If you had Tennessee Tech and 68, YOU STILL LOST!!!" All five Loyola starters scored in double figures, whereas Bobby Young (14) and Eddie Mason (10) had more than half of Tennessee Tech's points.
Loyola would eventually make it to the Final Four, held in Freedom Hall in Louisville that year. Behind Lee Hunter's 29 points and 18 rebounds, and with a huge assist from Jerry Harkness (20 points and 11 rebounds), Loyola would defeat the Duke Blue Devils 94-75. Duke was led by eventual MOP Art Heyman, who valiantly tried to keep Duke in the game with his 29 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough. In the finals Loyola would face Cincinnati, who crushed Oregon State 804-48 in the semifinals paced by George Wilson's 24 points and 13 rebounds.
In the finals, Loyola had a balanced scoring attack led Hunter's 16 (with 11 boards), Vic Rouse's 15 (and 12 rebounds), with Huntre chipping in 14. The leading scorer in the game was Cincinnati's Ron Bonham, who drummed his way to 24 points while playing all 45 minutes of the game, which went into overtime. In fact, 9 of the 10 starters played all 45 minutes, with only the Bearcats Dale Heidotting earning time off the bench. His four minutes were largely to spell George Wilson, who experiences some late foul trouble.
In this close, largely back-and-forth game, the Loyola Ramblers prevailed, winning the first (and only) men's basketball championship.
Other than the Kentucky-Santa Clara game, the most interesting thing about the games were the press conferences. In particular two coaches shined in that regard.
First up is Byron Smith, the head coach of Prairie View A&M, who when asked what his team could do to try to slow Florida down as his team was down 60-21 at halftime responded succinctly, "We need some help from the Lord."
Next up is Kevin Willard, Villanova's coach who told the reporter that he was going to "Fire his Staff" at halftime, and that he needed to "get a new staff." After the game he simultaneously doubled-down on his statement and said it was a joke.
So, I guess I should discuss some of the play during yesterday's games.
Players of the Day (Women's Edition)
10. Taleysia Cooper, Tennesse - 24 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
9. Mia Nicastro, Western Illinois - 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block
8. Brooke Carlson, Colorado State - 26 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals,
7. Allie Turner, Gonzaga - 27 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists
6. Brookly Meyer, South Dakota State - 29 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block
5. Carys Baker, Texas - 21 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks
4. Toby Fournier, Duke - 24 points, 7 rebounds
3. Taryn Barbot, Charleston - 36 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals
2. Olivia Miles, TCU - 12 points, 16 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
1. Avery Howell, Washington - 30 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
Players of the Day (Men's Edition)
10. Armani Lyles, Akron - 26 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
9. Darryn Peterson, Kansas - 28 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
8. Braden Smith, Purdue - 26 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists
7. Malik Reneau, Miami - 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks
6. Dominique Daniels, Cal Baptist - 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
5. Killyen Toure, Iowa State - 25 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists
4. Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee - 29 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals
3. LaBaron Philon, Alabama - 29 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals
2. Otega Oweh, Kentucky - 35 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
1. Tarris Reed, Connecticut - 31 points, 27 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
And now, for our own "Players of the Day", this was not particularly difficult to select the "Picks of the Day." Primarily because 3 stood out. With no major upsets of which to speak, a decent amount of entries had 14 of the 16 games correct, 8 had 15 games correct, and 3 went a perfect 16-0 yesterday. We might have had 4, but Floyd Forte of Grand Haven, Michigan - who otherwise went 15-0, forgot to select a winner of the Kentucky-Santa Clara game. Another entrant, Ty Hedgpeth of Wilmington, North Carolina, went 15-1, with her only loss being her selection of Santa Clara, which I can only assume was an attempt at payback for all of my Duke jokes throughout the years. (Did you see my stab at Bobby Hurley earlier?). But, with that, the "Picks of the Day" go to the perfect 16-0 selections of Measha Williams (Canes 1 Bracket) of Houston, Texas, Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida, and Lily Spuhler of Acworth, Georgia.
As we approach tipoff of the Michigan-St. Louis game, good luck everyone, and remember, all games today are worth 2 points each (and some might be subject to upset bonuses!)
As always, please double check my scoring, and if you find a discrepancy, please let me know. I will
double-check it for you, as I am only human. Just remember my admonition from before, I will double-check the entirety of your bracket. Now, onto the standings!!!
FIRST ROUND STANDINGS
1. Jason Spuhler - 48
2. Max Macon 2 - 47
3. Rich Samuels - 45
4. Megan Cox - 43
Crew Ferguson - 43
Martha Kroesen - 43
Day Yi 1 - 43
8. Stephanie Henderson - 42
Steven Usma 2 - 42
10. Josh Zdrowak - 41
11. Megan Corrado - 40
Paul Kludt - 40
Mitchell K. (Lamb) - 40
Glen Merchant - 40
Henry Transecki - 40
16. Jonathan Cox 2 - 39
Cheryl Spuhler - 39
Measha Williams (Buddy Canes 1 Bracket) - 39
19. Jeff Plamondon 1 - 38
Ashley Poer 1 - 38
Annette Pritchard 1 - 38
Steven Usma 3 - 38
Steven Usma 5 - 38
Chuck Whitcomb - 38
25. Brent Bellinger B - 37
Kyle Henderson - 37
Pepe Sosa 1 - 37
28. Ty Hedgepeth - 36
Dave Piasecki - 36
Vincent Plamondon - 36
Jonathan Wasserman 2 - 36
32. Daniel Barsky 2 - 35
Brent Bellinger A - 35
Jim Coleman - 35
Mark Holbert 2 - 35
Karen Katz 1 - 35
David Kennedy - 35
Mango Merchant - 35
Si "Papa Si" Nichols - 35
Bubba Zdrowak - 35
Keith Zdrowak - 35
42. Shane Jernigan 2 - 34
Brittany Sosa - 34
Pepe Sosa 2 - 34
Justin Yung - 34
46. Matt Hopps - 33
Guy Hughes - 33
Mac Kroesen - 33
Monte Lambert - 33
Duncan Merchant - 33
51. Dwayne Cushman - 32
Benny Merchant - 32
53. Floyd Fonte 1 - 31
Hazy Frank - 31
Braeden Helland - 31
Adam Jorgensen - 31
Karen Katz 2 - 31
Rylee Montague - 31
William Pujals - 31
Matt Thibaut - 31
Steven Usma 1 - 31
Measha Williams (Canes 2 Bracket) - 31
Mike Wolff 1 - 31
64. Daniel Barsky 1 - 30
Jonathan Cox 1 - 30
John Hedgpeth - 30
Blake Jackson - 30
Max Macon 4 - 30
Sasha Moon - 30
Amanda Staudt - 30
Katie Zdrowak - 30
73. Joel Chernoff - 29
Shane Jernigan 1 - 29
Dawn Lamb - 29
Max Macon 1 - 29
Salvatore Plamondon - 29
George Walks 3 - 29
George Walks 4 - 29
80. Colleen Giamberini - 28
Quinn Jackson - 28
Silas Nichols - 28
Kingfish Parham 1 - 28
Kingfish Parham 2 - 28
Lily Spuhler - 28
86. Paul Cummings 1 - 27
Marcus Jackson - 27
Katie Kollmeyer - 27
89. Paul Cummings 3 - 26
Jenna Finkelstein 2 - 26
Carolyn Fowler - 26
Skip LaForte - 26
Monte Lambert 2 - 26
Mike Litsey - 26
Natalie Moon - 26
Jeff Plamondon 2 - 26
Chris Simmons - 26
Barkley Sosa - 26
Measha Williams (Canes 3 Bracket) - 26
100. Trey Angus - 25
Jenna Finkelstein - 25
Floyd Fonte 2 - 25
Gracie Fonte - 25
Jacey Fowler - 25
James Garvin - 25
Mark Holbert - 25
Keith W 2 (Lamb) - 25
Sean McInerney 2 - 25
Sean McInerney 3 - 25
Javier Rodriguez 2 - 25
Jasmine Tran - 25
George Walks 2 - 25
Stacia Wilkaitis - 25
Biscuit Zdrowak - 25
115. Randy Bennett - 24
Paul Cummings 2 - 24
Carolyn Fowler & Jane Reynolds - 24
Justine Frank - 24
Arlene Amo Hopps - 24
Sean McInerney 1 - 24
Annette Pritchard 2 - 24
Stephanie Soplop 1 - 24
Stephanie Soplop 2 - 24
124. Barbara Curlett - 23
Floyd Fonte 3 - 23
Alyssa Hopps - 23
Ashley Poer 2 - 23
Jane Reynolds - 23
Javier Rodriguez 1 - 23
Caroline Spuhler - 23
Steven Usma 4 - 23
George Walks 1 - 23
Jonathan Wasserman 1 - 23
Day Yi 2 - 23
135. Max Macon 3 - 22
Amy Zdrowak - 22
137. Colbie (Lamb) - 21
Keith W 1 (Lamb) - 21
Allison Parker - 21
Hannah Sosa - 21
141. Mike Wolff 2 - 20
